1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a vehicle roof of the type with a series of plates for selectively closing and at least partially opening a roof opening in a fixed roof surface, the plates, in a closed position, bordering one another and forming a continuous panel of plates, each plate being slidably guided along a path of movement in a guide device that is connected with the fixed roof surface, on each lateral side of the roof opening, on a pair of guide elements which are spaced one forward of the other in a sliding direction, so that, when the plates are displaced along the guide device in an opening direction, the plates of the continuous panel of plates perform translational and pivoting movements during which the panel of plates is separated into individual plates in a plate-by-plate manner commencing with a rearmost plate of the plate system, the panel of plates being reestablished in a plate-by-plate manner commencing with a forwardmost plate when the plates are displaced along the guide device in a closing direction. In particular, the invention is directed to a vehicle roof of this type in which, in the decoupled state, the pivoted out plates can be moved against one another as each plate is fully swung-out, each fully swung-out plate being locked via an lock element securely to a guideway attached to the roof, and the locking of the fully swung-out plate to the guideway being automatically released under the influence of the closing motion of an adjacent attachment element.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle roof of the initially mentioned type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,185. This vehicle roof is a louvered, roof, and in contrast to sliding or sliding-lifting roofs, enables clearing of relatively large roof openings with simultaneous high stability, secure holding of the louvers, and an aerodynamically favorable behavior. Matching of the roof to different vehicle types can be achieved with relative ease. In the louvered roof known this patent, the lock for a fully swung-out louver is formed by an arrangement with a latch block in a bearing unit which joins two adjacent attachment elements at a time. Under the influence of the motion of the attachment element which is approaching the attachment element of the, current, last fully swung-out louver, a latch block slide, via sloped surfaces, exerts a transverse force on the latch block of the bearing unit which connects these two attachment elements perpendicularly to the opening direction of the vehicle roof so that the latch block is pushed perpendicularly to the opening direction into a latch block receiver in a guide rail attached to the roof, by which it causes locking of the bearing unit on the roof and thus of the fully swung-out louver. When the roof is closed, the reverse motion of the attachment element for the louver, preceding the, current, last fully swung-out louver, via sloped surfaces on the latch block and the latch block receiver, exerts a transverse force on the latch block such that the latch block moves out of the latch block receiver attached to the roof back into the latch block receiver in the latch block slide, and unlocking of the bearing unit (and thus the fully swung-out louver) from the roof.
In this known locking mechanism for a louvered roof, it has been found to be disadvantageous that installation is relatively expensive and the type of locking mechanisms, in practice, requires precise execution of the involved parts, especially the slide and the latch blocks, so that the respective bearing surfaces are made correspondingly small for transmission of force. As a results reliable operation of this known interlock mechanism is not always adequately ensured in practice, especially in series production In particular, the danger exists that the latch blocks will jam.